AC MILAN v SASSUOLO: OPPONENT REVIEW

As the second half of the season gets underway, Stefano Pioli's AC Milan host Alessio Dionisi's Sassuolo in the Sunday lunchtime match. Neither side comes into the clash in the best of form, but both will be looking to bounce back after a series of uninspiring results. The Rossoneri have not lost two consecutive Serie A matches since November 2021 (the first against Fiorentina, the second against Sassuolo). Another negative, in the opposite camp, is the recent record of the Neroverdi, who have recorded two draws and six defeats in their last eight league matches.

Only once, however, have the Emiliani team gone nine games in a row without a win in Serie A - between December 2017 and March 2018, with Iachini as coach. Even more worrying is the away record for Dionisi's eleven, who have picked up just one point since the beginning of October (1 draw, 5 losses), a negative record in the period shared with Verona. At the San Siro, on paper the reigning Italian champions remain the favourites, but the opponents have the same desire to react and the match promises to be a thrilling one.

TOO MANY GOALS CONCEDED AND NOT ENOUGH PRESSING: NEROVERDI'S WEAKNESSES
Sassuolo are going through a rough patch and the numbers certify it. The Neroverdi's difficulty in scoring stands out: in the last eight games they have failed to score on four occasions and, even when they have scored, they have never managed to do so more than once in the same match (0.5 goals scored on average in this streak). At the same time, their defence is easily breached: 21 goals conceded in their last 11 matches in the top flight, after five clean sheets in their previous seven - one of which came against AC Milan.

Another alarming element is their management of a lead: since the start of the last Serie A, in fact, the Emiliani have lost an impressive 34 points from a winning position - including the two in the last game against Monza. In this period, only Verona (44) and Bologna (39) have done worse in the competition. Finally, there is a clear difficulty in counteracting the opponents' high press: while AC Milan are the team that has scored the most goals following an offensive recovery (five), Sassuolo are one of the four still without goals in these situations in the current edition of Serie A.

BERARDI ALWAYS LURKING, BUT WATCH OUT FOR LAURIENTÉ AND FRATTESI
By now it is a well-known fact: AC Milan are Domenico Berardi's favourite opponent (10 goals) and the one against whom he has been involved in the most goals in Serie A (14, four assists in addition to his 10 goals). Despite his particular 'affinity' with the Rossoneri, no less than 11 of those 14 appearances have come between 2013/14 and 2015/16, with only three since then. Be careful though, because the Neroverdi's main man is, along with Frattesi (four) and Pinamonti (three), one of the team's top three scorers this season, as well as the best among his teammates in terms of chances created from set-pieces (5).

Speaking of attacking contributions, the other two notable names on the roster are Davide Frattesi and Armand Laurienté. The Azzurri midfielder (Sassuolo's player with the most goals to his credit so far, 4) is joint top with Koopmeiners - among his position - for shots on target this season (17). The Frenchman, on the other hand, shines in terms of chances created among his team-mates - 39, a good 20 more than anyone else - but in this respect he also stands out among all the players in the league: only Vlasic (36) has produced more chances than the former Lorient man in the 22/23 season (35 alongside Deulofeu). In addition, he has had 24 successful dribbles - his opponent Rafael Leão has done better.

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